Second round interviews are not much different than the first round interviews, just a little longer, more in-depth, and with the writing sample as a new component of your application package. You will have two 30-45 minute interviews, each 1-on-1 with a DOT attorney. Then the group of applicants in your time slot (usually 4 at a time) will meet together with a current Honors Attorney for an off-the-record Q&A. This is strictly for your benefit - what is said in the room is never reported to the hiring committee, and gives you a chance to ask any questions you like.Just wondering what a standard second interview is like? It says somewhere that they are around 2 hours long, I was just wondering if it is question based or if there are aptitude tests or anything? Thanks
I think there is a benefit to being at the interview in person. No one will hold it against you if you have a legitimate reason you can't travel to DC, but in-person interviews are just easier to conduct. That may make a subconscious difference when an attorney is evaluating you in a highly competitive applicant pool.1: I assume that it's important to go in for the callback even though it says phone interviews are an option?
2: Any advice on what's important in a writing sample? My two obvious samples are something I wrote in an advanced writing class, which is very good but not written in a real work environment, or memos I wrote at a state transportation agency, which are very related to DoT subject matter and as such would need to be extremely heavily redacted.
3: Is there an advantage to interviewing earlier in the callback cycle?
A good writing sample is more heavily focused on analysis/argument than factual exposition (though it's good to show a bit of both for evaluation). If you have an analytically-focused writing sample from a work experience, always use it, even if heavily redacted. You could even rewrite it in a way that would require less redaction - we don't care/won't know if it's not how you submitted it at work. We only care if you submit something that you didn't actually write/edit yourself. If you use a school assignment piece, try to use one where the assignment was open-ended. The least useful writing samples are ones responding to a fact-pattern prompt written by a professor. Inevitably the professor has written the prompt with a closed universe of cases/arguments in mind (even if not given to you) and it's less useful in evaluating your original research/analysis ability.
There is no advantage/disadvantage to the timing of your second round interview. The hiring committee will not review any of the applicants until all of the second round interviews are complete.
DOT's only grade requirement is a top 50% standing, no matter the school. If you're below median you have to have a really compelling application in all other respects to get an offer. After that, grades and school rank matter some, and we do look at those on a bit of a sliding scale based upon the school, but I would say grades, writing sample, substantive work experience, and interviewer feedback are all weighed pretty equally in the process.A lot of non-DOJ Honors programs seem to ask for some particular grade percentile to apply. Are these typically soft floors, considering the differences in school rank? As in, a median student at, say, UVA is probably more impressive than a top 25% student at Florida Coastal.